With some insight to the inspiration behind the Hex Collection (previous blog post) I decided to write a blog post on the significance of the relationship between humans and bees. A couple of months ago I hosted my first Instagram contest. One of the rules was to post an image of bees and flowers. I had flowers as the backdrop for my pop up event, and images of flowers are just about the only bright pops of color on my Instagram feed. The reason being is that since living in California I have always noticed and mentioned my appreciation for the year round plant life that is able to sustain here. The thriving plant life here directly relates to bees and our natural food sources. If we do not take notice of the small factors in the big picture of our food chain then we will eventually suffer the consequences. The winner of my Instagram contest was a gardener and bee keeper from the Salt Lake City area named Rette Green. She went above and beyond for the contest by simply tagging me in multiple existing pictures in her Instagram library full of bees, flowers, and her garden. I asked Rette what she thinks is the easiest solution for people to do to help save and foster the bee population. She replied:

"Based on zero scientific research, I think basic problem is that most people don't eat things that could have dirt on them-- meaning (like in our Idaho community) farmers are cutting crops or not planting them altogether because it's just not profitable anymore. Fields are being sold for cheap, identical houses are sitting full of weeds because farmers can't survive in the current market. A basic solution to dwindling crops is flowers. Groups have been pushing people to plant flowers, because it feeds and encourages bees. Even if you can't plant a garden, flowers will support bees.

Honey bees and humans are in this together. If we support them by keeping crops and not eating genetically modified plastic foods, it saves us all. The fact that bees are in trouble only points to a larger problem-- we aren't eating the foods nature intended us to. I guess the easiest thing I can think of is to turn people to their plates. Are you eating something that came from the ground? How many steps has your food transformed through? Keep it in it's basic form, and eat lots of it. Support the farms and communities that bees need, and everyone will be healthier. Healthier bees, healthier communities and healthier you."

Rette's Instagram feed (@rettetrospect) features beautiful images of her home grown garden, healthy recipes, her adorable babies, and her appreciate for bees.